§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Minister for the Civil Service what are his latest estimates of the cost of answering (a) an oral parliamentary question, (b) a priority written parliamentary question and (c) an ordinary written parliamentary question; and how these compare with the figures for (i) five years ago and (ii) 10 years ago, respectively.
§ Mr. HayhoeThe costs of individual questions vary considerably, but the current average cost is estimated at £67 for oral answers and £41 for written answers. It is not possible from the information held centrally to distinguish between the costs of answering ordinary written and priority written questions.
In May 1980 the average cost for oral answers was estimated at £50 and for written answers at £30. In April 1975 the average cost for oral answers was estimated at £26 and for written answers at £16.